Swinging Pennsylvania

This should have happened in July. But it could provide the difference in the bitter neighborhoods.

John McCain has not wielded the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. club over Democratic rival Barack Obama, who repudiated his former pastor and eventually left his Chicago church.

But that hasn't stopped some of those supporting the Republican presidential candidate. The GOP in Pennsylvania, a must-win state for McCain, is airing a tough, last-minute TV ad on Wright and Obama.

"If you think you could ever vote for Barack Obama, consider this: Obama chose as his spiritual leader, this man," the announcer says in the ad, first reported yesterday by Time magazine's political website.

Wright is then shown, in the now-famous video, thunderously saying from the pulpit of a Chicago church while Obama was a member, "Not God bless America, God damn America!"

"He also picked Wright to baptize his children," the announcer says, before Wright is shown saying, "The US of KKKA!"

"Barack Obama, he chose as his pastor a man who blamed the US for the 9/11 attacks," the announcer continues. "Does that sound like someone who should be president?"